A lot has changed for Rob since he began programming in QBasic, to starting his first business at age 15 calling local businesses with a offer to build them a simple brochure site.

All of which were successful, but he wasn’t until his time at Cambridge University where he graduated with a BA Hons in Computer Science that he started developing technology, some of which they currently use at his company FusePump today.

FusePump, like any successful business was born over beers one evening, Rob and his co-founder Lee brainstormed the idea for the business on a sheet of wallpaper. FusePump helps create a better online shopping experience for consumers by delivering a consistent user journey.

In my interview, we discuss some of the keys that has helped him build his business into a succesful company, his background, FusePump and his advices for less-experienced entrepreneurs.

Hi Rob, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

I’m good – thanks for inviting me to contribute to YHP. Hope you’ll be interested in my story so far!

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself? Tell me about yourself growing up?

I am Yorkshire born and bred and grew up in Bradford, where I went to the Grammar School. Thanks to one or two inspiring teachers, I became very interested in computers from a young age – but whilst all my friends were gaming, I was programming in QBasic!! It meant I was the butt of the jokes for a few years, but it served me well later in life as I eventually went on to study Computer Science at Cambridge and that is where I started developing the technology we use today.

How did you get into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I have been an entrepreneur since a very young age. I started my first business when I was 15, calling local businesses from a directory that had no website listed and offering to build them a simple brochure site. After a while, I started to come across more and more businesses who not only wanted to have a presence online but wanted to sell online too and that was when I started building ecommerce websites.

After my first few experiences, I quickly learned there was no point in building an ecommerce site unless you could find a way to drive users to that site, so I became very interested in Digital Marketing and in particular the ability to leverage other websites as sales channels. At the age of 16 I decided to start my own ecommerce site to put to work some of the techniques I had used for other people’s sites, and by creating an innovative web site that used dynamic price comparison to create offers in real-time as users browsed the site, I was able to make really healthy margins selling DVDs online.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

I took a lot of inspiration from my family – my dad had his own small business as an Independent Financial Advisor which really highlighted to me the benefits of working for yourself. My uncle was an entrepreneur too and did some really exciting things in Information Technology. I still don’t fully understand what those things were, but he must have done them very well and it was his success that really got me interested in high growth businesses and the lifestyle that goes with them!

So tell me how the idea for FusePump came about?

Over beers one evening – my co-founder Lee and I were brainstorming on a sheet of wallpaper because he was having his kitchen decorated.

What were you doing before you founded FusePump?

I had been working on ecommerce websites, including the DVD web site of my own. During my time at Cambridge I used my dissertation project as an excuse to build a platform for web data extraction and I was lucky enough to meet Chris whilst I was there. Chris has remained one of my best mates and is now the other co-founder of FusePump and our CTO – he is a technical genius and has been instrumental to our success.

What is FusePump? What are you guys trying to solve?

Our aim is to make multi-channel ecommerce simple for online retailers who sell many different products. We improve the online shopping experience for consumers by delivering a consistent user journey, and make our clients more money in the process!

What was your biggest challenge during the starting up phase?

Our biggest challenge was balancing supply (or production capacity, for us) with demand. We always seemed to have more clients who wanted to buy our services than we were able to service at the time. It might sound silly to turn business away, but it’s not easy to find and train staff on-demand and we were not prepared to compromise on the quality of our service by taking on more than we knew we could handle. Perhaps we were victims of our own success.

How were you able to fund the business?

We didn’t raise any funding from VCs or investors at the start and kicked off with only a relatively small amount of cash that we borrowed from the bank. We must have had a great business plan as it was slap bang in the middle of the recession and their purse strings were terrifyingly tight, according to the press. This meant we had to grow completely organically, generating enough cash from sales to cover our overheads at all times. It’s really hard work to achieve the level of growth we have in this way, but it’s satisfying to know we did it on our own and managed to retain our valuable equity.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Businesses are all about people – you cannot grow a business on your own, so it is crucial to find the right people who you can inspire to share your motivation and drive in the early stages. It took an awful lot of work to grow out each area of the business in the early stages, but I am now fortunate enough to be surrounded by a fantastic management team who I can trust to manage and grow their own business areas. That’s why I would say hiring sensibly and strategically is one of the most crucial things we have done to grow the business.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Absolutely – any successful technology business needs to be prepared to evolve constantly as market conditions and client demands change. We did a great job of listening to our clients and keeping agile during the early stages, and this was a key factor in our success. Now that we are bigger, it’s about creating an environment where innovation is encouraged and new ideas can be realised with minimal resistance. It takes some getting used to, but innovation doesn’t last forever and it can’t continue to come from the founders alone – it’s really empowering now to see newer and better ideas being developed all the time within the business.

What would you say has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

I am a bit of sales person at heart, so signing our biggest deal to date was probably one of the highlights for me. Before that, my highlight was probably signing what was previously the biggest deal to date and if you ask me in a few months, it will hopefully be signing the next biggest deal to date! Seriously though, the buzz of growing a business is that the highlights keep coming. There are over 40 of us in the office now, but I still get a massive kick every time I am able to go into the office and introduce myself to a new employee – people are the physical evidence that we are getting bigger.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

We are releasing some exciting new products, which are going to really shake things up for our new and existing clients. We are also entering some new markets – including France, Spain, Germany and possibly the US. On top of that, we will be doing plenty more of the same stuff we have always done to help us achieve our target of another 100% growth year on year.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1.Make sure your idea rocks – don’t be secretive, talk to everyone you can and tell them what you are planning. It’s human nature to look for problems so don’t be disheartened when they inevitably pick your idea apart, just make sure you learn from their awkward questions. Once you have convinced yourself you are onto a winner, just go for it and don’t look back!

2.Surround yourself with the right people – you can’t do it on your own, even if you own the whole business you will need to hire if you want to get bigger! In the early stages, there is no substitute for enthusiasm so pick people who share your passion for the business above all else.

3.Always have a plan – your plan will probably need to change every 15 minutes so there is no point in writing it down, but always try to make sure you have one in your head. Entrepreneurs are takers of risks – but if you’re doing enough thinking, you should rarely encounter a situation that catches you off guard.

The dot-com bubble was a hard time for businesses, a lot of companies especially start-ups went from overnight success to bankruptcy, a few survived while others were left hanging to what was left of their companies.

Even though, millions or perhaps billions were lost during the dot-com bubble, a lot of entrepreneurs also made their name during this time.

One of those entrepreneurs is Nina Hampson, Nina was the founder of Myla, an international luxury lingerie brand founded in 2000 during the dot.com bubble and after 6 years of building the startup into a multi-million pound business decided it was time move on and sold the business.

I recently caught up with Nina as she shares her entrepreneurial story with me and also the story behind her latest startup, Zinc.

Hi Nina, thanks for doing this with me, how are you doing?

I’m well, thanks. Currently in Dusseldorf and I’ve just discovered that it has the highest Japanese population of any city in Germany – which explains why the sushi’s so good.

Can you give us some background information on yourself? How did you get into business?

I wanted to be a wildlife photographer but can’t sit still, so I started out as a management consultant and quickly became interested in customer (rather than animal) behaviour analytics. I moved to a customer intelligence consultancy, a (then) small outfit called dunnhumby and worked as an analyst on the Tesco account. It was the late-90s and we trialled and implemented ground-breaking insight work (such as customer segmented pricing) which had a dramatic effect on Tesco’s business (and on dunnhumby!). It was there that I caught the retail bug, and met both my first, and my current business partner, Charlotte and Susan.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

My dad. He ran his own business from the age of 20 and taught me that it’s possible to achieve your dreams, with hard work, some luck and a dose of imagination.

You started Myla in 2000 and sold it in 2006, tell me about that period in your life and your experience running the business? It was during the dot-com bubble, things must have been crazy then?

It was a rollercoaster! Typically, the dot.com bubble burst at the time we were raising money for Myla. Not surprisingly it was a tough market. But Charlotte and I were very focused on what we wanted to achieve- Armani meets Ann Summers – and it took off very quickly. A steep learning curve would have been an understatement! We taught ourselves product development, sourcing, buying & merchandising and retail/mail-order/web management. Inevitably we made a few mistakes on the way, but we worked well as a team and had a shared vision, which was key to Myla’s success.

Why did you decide to sell the company in 2006?

Myla had become a very strong brand. We had great product and had a good UK business, but cash flow is critical in retail. We’d opened our first store in the USA and realised that we were over-stretched. We needed investment from an experienced partner to help us roll out distribution. The plan was to stay and grow Myla with them, but that didn’t pan out….!

What would you say were some of the key things you learnt from that experience?

It’s really obvious but focus on getting the basics right. It’s not always the most exciting aspect of business but it’s easy to get distracted by exciting things that cost you money, rather than make you money.

Invest in your best people. Recruiting good people is hard so when you find a star then develop them. Once you’ve gained their trust, don’t let them down and if you make a recruitment mistake (easily done!) then end the relationship quickly.

Love your customers. They pay your salary! If you work in retail then the best way to learn about your customers is by serving them in-store, if you think you’re above working in a shop then you’re in the wrong job.

Looking back and comparing it to now, what are some of the things that have changed in running a business or in building a successful company?

On the upside, you don’t have to have grey hair and wear a suit to be taken. But, on the downside, I do think we suffer from ‘always-on’ syndrome! So, we insist on retro-meeting etiquette – you know – where everyone actually listens to what’s being said and contributes, rather than looking at emails on their phone or tapping away on their laptop….

Let’s talk about Zinc, tell me how the idea came about?

I was working with my business partners, Susan and Stephen Rose who co-founded the customer intelligence company, 5one. When they sold 5one, we decided to start afresh and launch Zinc with Stephen Jones who is an expert in Change Management.

So many companies collect data yet don’t necessarily have the systems, experience or culture to turn this into customer knowledge and profitable actions. Most consultancies specialise in providing a solution to one of these challenges. We recognise that many businesses struggle to identify what solutions they need (and would make them money!) in the first place, and this is where Zinc’s strength and value lies.

What were you doing before you founded Zinc?

Having a nap on a beach in Devon!

What is Zinc and how does it work?

We’re an advisory firm with a difference, as we believe that all businesses should be built on a strong foundation of customer knowledge. We help companies understand how they can translate their data into customer knowledge, turn this knowledge into real actions and support them through the cultural change needed to sustain this in the long term.

So in non-technical speak, we look at client’s data, show them what they can do with it, tell them what it means and how they make money from it. Then help them change their business processes and culture.

What is your business model?

Staying focused and happy – anything else is boring!

What makes Zinc different from any service out there?

We are world-class experts in our field who provide jargon-feel practical advice that drives bottom-line profitability. A rarity in consulting.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Developing our client relationships and delivering top quality work to them so that they continue to work with us, and refer us to others. We get a lot of word of mouth referral, so we must be doing something right!

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Our initial idea of what Zinc would be remains the same, but we are constantly evolving the business. We like to stay ahead of the game so we put a lot of effort into enriching our methodologies and finding new, smarter ways of approaching our clients’ issues.

How have you been able to fund the business?

Our start-up costs were minimal (laptops and phones). We worked from home for the first year and paid ourselves when we had money, so Zinc has funded itself from inception. Having a client from day one also helped!

What has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far

So many highlights. Opening our first Myla store, winning various business awards (doing the photo-shoot for Vogue’s Superwomen of Fashion in 2005 always sticks in my mind) and more recently, Zinc winning projects over the big management consultancies – a great feeling!

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

More of the same. We’ll continue to build our client base, grow our team and get a bigger office. We also have a few exciting new projects in the pipeline but I’ll have to tell you about these in the future!

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1. Be focused. Write a business plan with financials – then double the costs and halve the revenues and see if you are still making money

2. Work smarter, not harder. Running a business is hard work, so understanding when you are at your most productive is key. The same task can take me 15mins or 1.5hours depending on my mood. Knowing this helps me plan my day more effectively and now I don’t waste time staring at my Mac when I know I’d be better off in the gym…

3. Have the courage of your convictions. You know your business the best. Know your market. Know your customers. There will still be times when you feel like you’re winging it, this is all part of being an Entrepreneur so enjoy the ride!

Sarah Wood is the COO/CMO of Unruly Media. The Shoreditch-based company not too long ago raised $25m in Series A investment from Amadeus Capital Partners, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund.

Unruly’s social video platform delivers and tracks active video views for major global brands and their media agencies including T-Mobile’s acclaimed Life’s for Sharing series, Evian’s global Roller Babies hit and Heineken’s Open Your World campaign.

I recently caught up with Sarah as we took a trip down memory lane, talking about her background to her inspirations growing up and finally speaking about how the idea for Unruly Media came about and her plans to grow the business even further.

Hi Sarah, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

Thanks for having me!

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself? Tell me about yourself growing up?

As a child, I was the archetypal bossy big sister – according to Mum, my younger brother didn’t learn to speak until he was 4 yrs old because I did the talking for both of us. At school, I worked very hard to be the best at everything I did, but when I fell short of my own expectations I would get way too upset. As a grown up, I try not to beat myself up so much when things don’t go to plan.

How did you get into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

Funnily enough, my father is a trade unionist, so my childhood and teenage years were spent on the other side of the fence – supporting workers and decrying the greed of big business. Both my parents have a very strong work ethic, though, and a stoic determination never to give up, no matter how tough things get. I’ve carried that with me.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

Anne Frank, The Famous Five and my teachers. My teachers used to let me hang around them at break times. We would talk politics and bash the Tories. I was a total geek and a political idealist. Robert Tressell’s Ragged Trousered Philanthropist made a deep impression.

So tell me about Unruly Media and how the idea came about?

There are 3 cofounders – myself (COO), Scott Button (CEO) and Matthew Cooke (CTO). Scott and I had been together since university and had run a couple of small businesses after graduating from uni – nothing serious, but we did have a lot of fun and were keen to work together again. I went on to become an academic and Scott joined an ad-serving start-up in the late nineties, at the height of the Internet boom. That’s where he met and got to know Matt Cooke.

When the company (Connextra) was sold in 2005, the three of us decided to join forces and build a technology business. The Web 2.0 phenomenon was getting underway and we were keen to build a business that made the most of the social web. The availability of open source software and the cheap office space we were able to sublet in the Truman Brewery meant that the barriers to entry were low so we started up without a business plan or a commercial model – just a lot of ideas! We hired another developer, built a bunch of stuff, failed fast and learned fast during the first half of 2006.

We became especially interested in the fragmentation of online media, the explosion of social networks and the emergence of the blogosphere – all of which created a problem for any online video junkie: how to decide what to watch and how to be the first to find great content.

In September 2006, we had our first taste of success with ViralVideoChart, a cool-hunting website powered by a proprietary blog-scanning engine that scoured the web for video links and identified the most shared videos on the web. Described by Will.I.Am as “the Billboard Hot 100 of our generation”, ViralVideoChart now maps the dissemination of 300 billion video streams and tracks over 2 million video shares each day.

When brands and agencies asked us to help them launch their own films across the social web, we spotted an opportunity to build a scalable video seeding platform that identified influential sites and bloggers, invited them to run branded content and enabled brands and agencies to launch, optimise and measure their own social video campaigns.

We’re now the leading social video business in the world, with 9 offices spanning the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. Since launching our proprietary platform in 2007, we’ve delivered over 1,400 campaigns, 1.34 billion views and worked with over 300 brands. We’ve had the privilege to distribute iconic campaigns such as Compare the Meerkat, Barclay’s Waterslide, Old Spice Guy, Evian Roller Babies and T-Mobile’s Royal Wedding spoof.

Sustainable advantage comes down, ultimately, to your company’s DNA and Unruly’s DNA combines a fascination with video content, a love of the random and demotic nature of the web, with a big data approach to understanding the who, how, and why of what makes content work.

What were you doing before you founded Unruly Media?

I was a lecturer in American culture at Sussex University. I’ve never lost the teaching bug – now I convene an MPhil course at Cambridge University on Online Video Culture.

Can you explain to me what Unruly Media is and what you guys do? What is the process?

Unruly’s social video platform delivers and tracks active video views for major global brands and their media agencies.  Our distribution network includes more than12,000 blogs, sites, social platforms and mobile apps globally across the social web. We have 9 offices and 120+ employees across three continents and 11 time zones.

We use our proprietary technology to target relevant audiences and identify the brand and content advocates that start conversations.  Our proprietary video player and robust sharing & tracking tools ensure delivery of desired brand engagement across key campaign metrics — Awareness, Attention, Advocacy, Action.

How have you been able to fund the business?

We bootstrapped the business up until the raise, using seed capital from the sale of Connextra to carry us through to profitability in 2009. From then on, we funded growth organically from cash flow.

The headlines reads “Unruly Media raises $25 million” and all of a sudden it seems like an overnight success story, I’m sure you guys have gone through a lot of intense moments since starting almost 6 years ago? What was your biggest challenge during the whole starting up phase?

We’ve doubled headcount every year since 2007, so preserving the Unruly culture that made us successful in the first place is an ongoing challenge. Maintaining focus can be difficult as there’s so much going on in the online video landscape and we’re compulsively drawn to new ideas. There are so many awesome new technologies, bringing with them new problems to solve and new digital ecosystems to solve them – it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur!

Why do you think you were very successful in raising that kind of amount and what was your experience and some of the key things you learnt during that process?

We’re a profitable company, we’re scaling revenues fast and we’re leading the field in a high-growth advertising sector. Industry experts predict that by 2015, half of all marketing campaigns will include video bought on a cost-per-view basis and 75% of video ads on the web will be social in nature. Operating at the intersect of social and video, Unruly is exceptionally well positioned to take advantage of this shift in advertising spend from offline to online.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Entered new markets – opening in New York was a significant milestone – and hired awesome people, with the aptitude to scale as the company grows.

What’s your business model?

We work on a cost-per-view basis. Brands pay us each time someone actively views their ad in the Unruly player and we share the revenue with the sites where the views occur.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Since we launched the platform in 2007, the social video format has certainly come a long way and our platform has rapidly developed to meet the changes in the social media landscape. As well as being a Facebook-whitelisted partner, Unruly’s player is integrated with Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest – platforms that were either nascent or non-existent five years ago.

What advice can you give to other entrepreneurs looking to raise money for their start-up?

Be clear about why your business is unique; be clear about your vision for the company and be sure to know your numbers inside out!

What would you say has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

Ooh, that’s a difficult one to answer. Having the opportunity to spend lots of time in New York, making it into the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For, closing the Series A funding round were all highlights, but honestly, nothing beats the satisfaction I get from delivering kick-ass campaigns that exceed the client’s expectations.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

We’ll be striving to live up to our mission statement – to deliver the most awesome social video campaigns on the planet, and we’ll be doing that from more offices and for more clients, reaching consumers across more devices and a greater number of emerging social video platforms.  We’ll be continuing to innovate our technology platform and products and working closely with the IAB to ensure we’re leading the sector as it matures.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1. Choose cofounders you trust; high-integrity individuals who share your values and vision for the company

2. Talk to your customers as soon as possible – the sooner you get your product out to market, the sooner you’ll find out whether it has any legs.  If it doesn’t, at least you’ve failed fast. If it does, then you’ll benefit from having real customers making suggestions as to how you can improve the offering, iterate the product, or solve a larger problem.

3. Invest in a kitchen table – this is the most important piece of office furniture you will ever buy; it’s the ideal place for a team to swap ideas and spend time building friendships with their peers.

Steve Callanan is the CEO and co-founder at wireWAX. wireWAX is the first and only taggable video tool which allows users to add intuitive tracking tags to people and objects in video. So whilst watching a video, you can basically stop, click on anything that might interest you, something you want more information on or perhaps want to purchase – a two click process to the store.

I recently caught up with Steve as we took a trip down memory lane, talking about his background, earlier entrepreneurial ventures and how the idea for wireWAX came about.

Hi Steve, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

Thanks Joseph, I’m great, thank you. It’s an honour to be here.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Sure, my background is a strange combination of different visions. I’m a Bristol boy and studied an Electronic Engineering degree at Cardiff Uni. In my final year I set up my own TV production company and made a documentary series about first year students for ITV, not engineering related at all. This was followed by a another six-part series about graduates in limbo. I was the youngest TV producer in the UK at the time and I moved to London and continued producing TV content for the next 10 years.

During that time my company also produced commercial online video for brands and publishers and became the production house for all short-form video content for major digital publishers such at National Magazines and Hearst Digital. During that time it became acutely apparent that there was an obvious lack of interactivity in video; the brands whose products we featured grew frustrated by the failure to exploit obvious commercial opportunities. It was at this point that the concept for wireWAX was borne.

How did you get involved in entrepreneurship? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I wasn’t exposed in the sense that neither of my parents were entrepreneurs but I guess I was always interested in building things and creating something from nothing and they always encouraged that. I suppose in many ways, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about – if you have enough desire to create something unique, you enjoy the challenge of making it work – no matter what – and you get a buzz from seeing others use something you’ve created; you have the makings of a budding entrepreneur.

I was lucky enough to have free rein of my dad’s garage – which was my ‘sweet shop’ – I would spend hours, days sometimes, building something useless. A good example was my first ‘business’ making long-boards for the local skate shop during the summer break – I spent all my time building them and by the time it came to selling them, summer was over. I sold nothing and it was a few years later I turned them all into free-standing bookshelves and gave them away, one of which we still have in the office. Not the best use of my time but a valuable lesson learnt nonetheless.

So tell me about wireWAX and how the idea came about?

Typical of any technology making ripples, wireWAX was a classic case of borne of necessity. Producing short-form video content for brands and publishers it was obvious there was a trick being missed. The products in the video were impossible to buy unless you heard a mention or could see a product name enough to search for that product yourself.

A huge ask for viewers and unless they were determined the opportunity to purchase on impulse is lost. For the first 6 months, wireWAX was a crude prototype being engineered in evenings and weekends but a eureka moment changed everything and we changed focus from production to creating what wireWAX is today. I’m very glad to say I have no plans to go back, production is hard work and I absolutely love what I’m doing now.

What is wireWAX and how does it work?

wireWAX is the first and only taggable video tool. What does this mean? Well, anyone with a video, whether on a desktop, tablet or mobile device can upload it – just like YouTube or Vimeo – but this time faces are automatically detected. Key to wireWAX is our motion-tracking engine which mean those faces are automatically tagged with clickable hotspots or ‘tags’ that lock onto those faces and stay with them as the move around.

You can even add your own tags to other people and objects by simply drawing a box around them. What you then do with that tag is also up to you – link to profiles, text, images, video or other web pages. You can also use any of our wireWAX apps; Amazon (for linking products), Facebook (display a friend’s profile), YouTube/Vimeo (play another video right there in your video), Instagram, Flickr, Qwiki, iTunes, etc., etc. – instantly creating an interactive experience for your viewers.

Just adding one tag makes your video infinitely more interactive and engaging. There is no reason why all video shouldn’t be ‘wireWAXed’. The experience it creates is undeniably powerful.

What is your business model?

Our business model is simple – we have two user types, anyone interested in recording and sharing interactive video with friends and; production companies, brands, publishers, broadcasters or movie studios who want to do something a bit special. We cater for both by offering a free service to everyone and when you want to do more, you pay for those ‘add-ons’.

How did you initially attract users to wireWAX , and how do you do it now?

We’ve not yet done any commercial marketing, every wireWAX video displays a subtle logo at the top right which marks the experience as ours – this is by far the biggest market driver and the start of how people discover us. We also invest a lot of time connecting to fans and, for want of a better term, ‘reaching out’ to potential users on a personal level.

Our first big project was with EMI, I managed to get a foot in the door and a ten minute presentation to the digital team. A week later we’d created an interactive promo for the Kooks where fans could click on the band and enter a competition. We gathered 3000 email address in a week and drove a tenfold increase in traffic to the fanpage – something, we were told, would normally take up to a year.

This was really the start for us, from there other record companies and brands started to show interest. It was the fashion houses such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Rip Curl, Oki-Ni and SSENSE that embraced wireWAX the quickest. The fashion industry has always been nurturing innovative and artistic promo methods and was one of the first sectors to discover that online video needs to be as polished as the products they represent.

So, having produced a beautifully crafted, well-executed and expensive video – where’s the return? Where are the results? Where are the sales? wireWAX has an obvious presence in this space – high-end video production, models wearing products, big online appeal and – until now – no method of engaging customers and exploiting commercial opportunities.

We really believe that everyone could benefit from wireWAX and with video playing such a major part in a connected world we feel that people just need to know about it. Therefore over the next few months we’re dramatically increasing our through-the-line marketing – we have a discrete strategy as well as national and international PR plans. Making the tool free to all will help push the technology out to a wider audience too.

What makes wireWAX different from any service out there? What problem does it solve?

wireWAX is the first and only tool for taggable video. And that is the key difference, while there are lots of companies that provide a service (you send them your video and their own backroom guys manually add basic, rarely moving, hotspots and return the video in a few days), we’ve always set out to make wireWAX a simple, self-provisioning and personal experience.

That last point is also what makes us standout. Users can choose there own tag type and most importantly create their own pop-up (what happens when a viewer interacts), in a style of their choosing and relate it to their project, campaign or brand aesthetic – not a fixed and restrictive template. Putting the power into the hands of the users not only means things are infinitely scalable for us but allow users to be more creative with their own interactive experiences.

wireWAX solves a very difficult problem, very easily. Video is the last of the digital assets to be interactive, a computer knows nothing of the content, just pixels. Adding tags and adding a digital reference point to people and objects instantly means that dumb, passive medium is now rich with metadata. All the other content relating to that person or object elsewhere in the web can now be linked to it.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

SEO, clarity and smart pricing are essential to attracting visitors. Keeping interest and then converting them into active users. We work hard at our SEO and do everything we can to let people searching for a tool like wireWAX know we exist. That traffic is essential to our business. Over the next couple of weeks we’re releasing our new ‘front of house’ – our website and most importantly our homepage – the first thing visitors see and make millisecond decisions on whether to pursue or not. We’re also making it much, much easier for users to get started with simple user procedural changes with clear and big calls-to-action.

We trialed a tiered-price subscription model for users based on a very similar model to Brightcove’s. We assumed our client base would be users familiar with video hosting and therefore familiar with a similar pricing strategy. We were wrong, while some appreciated it, a licencing option was just not right for the vast majority of users.

We underestimated how many people would want to experiment before signing-up to a subscription, wireWAX is a brand new technology not a well-understood video-hosting solution where it’s easy to quantify what your money will get you in return. Users look to create one-off solutions in the first instance where they can experiment, distribute and analyse results before committing to something more tiein. We’ve abandoned subscriptions altogether for a free solution with paid-for add-ons. We’re confident it’s a better way to go and we know our users will feel more comfortable and willing to do more.

What was the most challenging part of starting the business?

Staying determined, long hours, difficult clients, difficult employees and technology failure all play a part in everyday struggles but without money, it never would’ve happened. Sourcing that finance was by far the the most difficult thing and in the early days we took ‘bootstrapping’ to the extreme.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

The idea was always to create something big, accessible and game-changing but the product is so much better than I would have ever imagined and the business is growing much faster than I expected. If someone had told me a couple of years ago that our product would be used by global power brands such as Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and Rip Curl; and broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4, I don’t think I would’ve believed them.

Who are your competitors?

We have the privilege of being a world first which means our nearest competitors have either changed tack and focused elsewhere or abandoned the concept altogether. We used to be compared to companies such as VideoClix or Clikthrough but they both provide serviced solutions rather than a self-provisioning tagging tool so their business and customer base is very different. Some newcomers are showing some interesting tagging and recognition features such as Veenome but we’re yet to see a working demo and our tech is more advanced.

While we are in a great position, we never take that for granted and constantly strive to improve and evolve everyday. We have just completed a 9-month rebuild of our original tech and back-end infrastructure to make it so much easier for the technology to stay fresh and always adaptable.

What were you doing before you founded wireWAX ?

I ran Wiseguy Pictures for over 10 years producing a diverse range of TV programmes such as Freshers, Housemates, A Year at Kew and Paparazzi as well as hundreds of hours of online video – mainly fashion and beauty – for some of the biggest digital publishers. We also produced movie trailers and lots of motion graphics – the latter of which gave me a very good grounding for vision techniques and user-interface.

It was working with those brands and publishers that spawned the initial need to develop an interactive video tool.

How have you been able to fund the business?

As wireWAX started as an experiment while running the production company, I was able inject a lot of personal finance and channel production revenue to research and development. It grew increasingly obvious that wireWAX was bigger than production and required more time, people and resources; so reducing the amount of personal time on production and looking for investment was the first major step to taking things further. In June 2011 we received earlyround investment from Passion Capital, headed-up by Eileen Burbidge, Stefan Glaenzer and Robert Dighero.

Between ramping down production and successfully closing that early-round, I’d by lying if I said things were easy. Yes, I could redirect production profits but as my personal involvement in that business diminished so did those profits and there was increasing pressure on me to fund things personally and embark on a very hard period of ‘beg, borrow and steal’. I never doubting that wireWAX was worth the pain and when the tech was in good shape and people were paying to use it, there was an overwhelming sense of vindication and it all felt worthwhile.

We started door-knocking investors at the beginning of 2011 and having the opportunity to present at Mike Butcher’s GeeknRolla certainly allowed us to hit a lot of people at the same time and open doors. We were invited to Seedcamp Berlin and a few weeks later we were sat around a table with Eileen, Stefan and Robert from Passion bashing out the details.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

2012 is a very exciting year for wireWAX. The investment from Passion came with a road-map to develop wireWAX to what it is now. A major overhaul of infrastructure, a complete rebuild of communications, a vast simplification revision of user-interface and user experience; and the start of the biggest commercial application of computer vision in Europe.

Our aim is to make wireWAX the first and only solution to make all video, everywhere, interactive. Doing that means we need the systems in place to cope and the automated functions to reduce almost all user effort.

We launched the first part of this earlier in the year and the new website and user management studio to be launched by the end of April. We’ll always be adding new automated features and improving the technology but as of next week you’ll start to see some incredible stuff, amazing things with video no one has done before.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

I wouldn’t say that I was a successful entrepreneur by any stretch and I can only pass on a few things that have worked for me so far…

1. Persevere. If you really believe in your idea and you believe that it has a genuine use for more than 10 people, work hard and work long – whatever it takes to get it working.

Whatever it takes to get it to your audience. Sometimes your designs or your code won’t work and it’ll feel like you’re killing yourself for a silly idea that never will, but stick at it. There is no substitute and no easy route. Be prepared to sacrifice to make it succeed, but be aware not everyone around you will like you for it.

2. Lists. This is probably an obvious one but make a list, no matter how big and silly it looks and never quit working through it, ignore anyone or anything that tells you to skip tasks or lose enthusiasm. Stay determined at all costs, set yourself a target and get there no matter what. The trick is to never be overwhelmed by the mountain left to climb, set yourself small goals and cross off achievements as you go. You’ll feel good as you work through it and keeping all your tasks in one place will free your mind of clutter and keep you creative. It’ll also ensure you get a good night’s sleep.

3. People. Surround yourself with very, very good people. People who you can rely on and who genuinely share your vision to make your idea happen. Get rid of those who don’t, fast – it may not be immediately obvious but they’ll drag you and the team down. There’s nothing better than coming to work, building something with guys who love it as much as you and having a proper giggle along the way

Liad Shababo is the founder of Shoply, a social shopping marketplace for small brands and local businesses. Prior to starting Shoply, he founded iStay.com, doof and MoneyGaming.com.

I recently caught up him as we spoke about his latest startup – Shoply.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Sure, I’m 34, born and bred in London. I’ve run internet companies for over 10 years. I founded MoneyGaming, a skill gaming network and doof.com, a social gaming platform. I’m now concentrating on social commerce and recently launched Shoply.com

You’re quite the serial entrepreneur, tell me how you got into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

My father and grandfather were entrepreneurs. They both started their own businesses and worked terribly hard to make them succeed. From a young age I would work with my father on weekends and school holidays and loved it. My father instilled in me a ‘buck stops here’ attitude and that hard work is the foundation of success. Internalising you alone are responsible for your livelihood and possibly that of others is incredibly empowering.

So tell me about Shoply and how the idea came about?

We felt for a long time that selling online was far too expensive and complicated. We could feel the pain small brands and local businesses were going through trying to get a shop up and running and their subsequent frustration being unable to drive traffic to them. We built Shoply to help them out.

What is Shoply and how does it work?

Shoply is a social shopping marketplace which brings together small brands and local business with customers looking to discover and buy from them. We make it quick and easy to open an online shop, generate traffic and make sales. We take away the technical pain and expense of selling online, remove marketing costs by providing free promotion tools and help grow sales by giving sellers access to the Shoply Marketplace, a vibrant sales channel.

For buyers, Shoply is a quick and social way of discovering awesome products from thousands of sellers worldwide.

What is your business model?

We charge 10% commission on sales made through the marketplace. We also offer a premium plan at $29.99 a month which gives sellers tons of additional benefits such as Featured Marketplace Status and advanced analytics.

What makes Shoply different from any service out there?

By providing small brands and local businesses a soup-to-nuts service encompassing software, marketing tools and a strong sales channel we provide them value far above what they can get elsewhere.

For buyers, making it quick and easy to shop thousands of small businesses in one place and wrapping the entire experience in a socially engaging and fun environment offers them a unique online shopping experience.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Assembling a motivated and passionate team and putting our customers at the heart of decisions we make.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

For sure. Our product has changed considerably based on feedback received. We follow the classic build, measure, learn, customer development loop. Whilst our product has changed our mission of empowering small business has stayed the same.

How have you been able to fund the business?

We bootstrapped the business initially and funded it from personal savings. We recently closed our first funding round with investors from Europe and the US.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

We’re going to grow the number of businesses selling on Shoply considerably and broaden the kinds of products and services being sold. We will continue to innovate the social aspects of the marketplace and make the whole experience, simpler, more beautiful and more fun. We also have a few key partnerships in the pipeline which we will announce soon.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1. Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. Have the courage of your convictions. Just do it.

2. Be a heat seeking missile. Seek constant feedback and use it to iterate and improve.

3. Don’t do it for the money. Find something you’re passionate about. Fix a problem which resonates with you.

Traditional networking events can be expensive, time-consuming and sometimes fail to connect you with relevant contacts for your business. This is where 85by55 comes in.

As a self-proclaimed ‘Chatroulette meets LinkedIn’ 85by55 offers users a platform for networking comprised of a seemingly random video pairing which lasts just two minutes in order for users to create ‘meaningful interactions’ in the most efficient amount of time. Intelligent programming ensures that you won’t be matched with the same person twice, and will only be connected to those who match your preferences. Once the two minutes are up you can choose whether or not to connect with your new contact via LinkedIn and other social networks. Registration is free, and once you’re logged in and have set your filters, you’re free to network from the comfort of your home or at work in your lunch hour; the choice is yours.
You may be wondering where the name 85by55 originated from. Co-founders Shed Simove and Jonathan Fren chose the name because the average size of a business card is 85 by 55 millimetres. ‘Ahhh’ I hear you say, ‘catchy’.

85by55 offers a unique way to connect with like-minded people – in theory. But the open nature of the website could be an invitation for improper use despite the startup encouraging users to sign up with a LinkedIn profile in an attempt to abolish such behaviour.

Shed Simove, once a TV producer and now an entrepreneur, explains one tactic used by the company in order to promote 85by55. April Fool’s Day saw the launch of www.NigeriaGoogle.com, just a month after the launch of 85by55. The website got almost 100,000 hits in just a few hours which subsequently generated 15,000 clicks through to their own website, thus boosting awareness and spreading the company name. The site got removed but Simove is currently fighting to get it back up.

In the future 85by55 will offer a premium option which will require a small cost for the user whilst simultaneously offering an optimised service thus generating increased revenue for the company. The business also hopes to have their software embedded into partner websites thus increasing its use.

In theory Simove and Fren have created a unique and exciting opportunity for professionals to meet with other professionals in the hope to improve their businesses and create a web of useful contacts. However, perhaps 85by55 lacks practicality – we’ll just have to wait and see.

Andreas Bodczek is the co-founder and CEO of SponsorPay, a leading advertising platform in social networks, virtual worlds, mobile apps and online games.

The idea for SponsorPay was initally conceived by Team Europe, a Berlin-based incubator. Andreas eventually joined the team as CEO bringing his expertise in business development, strategic expansion, company building and financial management to help grow the company further which he has continued to deliver on since joining the company.

I spoke to Andreas about SponsorPay and his journey into entrepreneurship.

Can you give you some background information about yourself; were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

Although my father ran his own practice as a doctor, I was never directly exposed to any entrepreneurial ventures until I became a member of the Bertelsmann’s Junior Management Programme. There I was able to hone my entrepreneurial skills by taking risks and developing new business models within a controlled environment.

Later on, I would go on to work for Telefonica where one of my first projects was launching a new business into the UK. Armed with a young team, I was able to construct the venture successfully from the ground up, literally starting from nothing.

Tell me how the idea for SponsorPay came about?

SponsorPay is the leading cross-platform in-game advertising company, which provides value for brands, games publishers and users of these games by providing targeted advertising offers. The idea was originally conceived by internet incubator Team Europe.

Eventually, I was brought on as founding CEO to help realize the potential of this idea. Combining my business development, strategic expansion and financial management experience with Team Europe’s expertise in business model development, company building and financing turned out to be a good match.

What is SponsorPay and what problem are you trying to solve with it?

SponsorPay provides advertising opportunities in a space (gaming) where such opportunities are scarce and rarely user-initiated. Our innovative engagement marketing product, BrandEngage, allows for users to interact and engage with brands. The users have a choice of which brands they engage with, as they are the ones who trigger interactions in exchange for benefits in a virtual economy.

Talk me through the first few months of running the business? What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

The most difficult part of starting the business was convincing publishers to accept advertisements within games and social networks. They were afraid to clutter their space with unwanted solicitations. However, once they realize that these ads not only generated more revenue, but also helped to funnel users into becoming paying customers, they quickly warmed up to the idea.

How were you able to fund the business?

Before we were able to secure larger funding, Team Europe was instrumental in growing SponsorPay. Not only were they able to provide the initial funding, they also provided the contacts and relationships to begin building SponsorPay’s network.

Later on, we were able to acquire significant rounds of Series A funding provided by Hasso Plattner Ventures and Nokia Growth Partners.

Tell me about a difficult time starting the business and how you were able to overcome it?

Starting any new business is always a challenge. More specifically, it wasn’t until we launched our services that we realized there was already another German competitor. After months of competing with GratisPay, we were eventually able to buy them out to seize control of the market.

Would you say the initial idea for the company, or that your business model has changed since starting the business?

The value exchange ad model has always been in place and still is, but the depth and breadth of our advertising solutions have continued to evolve. We have since not only added more advertisements, but more formats of ads as well as improved on our targeting, campaign management and reach.

What would you say has been some of the most crucial that you’ve done to build the company to this level now?

One of the most crucial progressions we’ve made is extending our ad formats from direct response to brand engagement as well as broadening technical capabilities from web to mobile.

We also continued to build our reach and proved our commitment to localization by expanding our offices to new locations such as Istanbul, Tokyo and New York.

What has been some of the most valuable things that you’ve learnt so far on your journey as an entrepreneur?

There are many valuable lessons I have learned along the way. But no matter the business or the market, you will be faced with adversity as an entrepreneur because part of being an entrepreneur is evaluating risk and knowing when to take chances. It’s important to know when to cut your losses and when to press on and “just go for it.” This is one of the decisions that excite me about entrepreneurship over and over again.

What’s been your most memorable moment so far on your entrepreneurial journey?

The most rewarding part of my experience has been seeing young, ambitious teams mature, grow together and ultimately deliver on what initially seemed to be too-high-flying plans. It’s great that we have all come together to achieve and surpass milestones month after month. It has been very gratifying to grow an organization from the ground up and go from a little-known entity to an industry leader.

What pieces of advices could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

Don’t be afraid to fail. No matter how diligent and detail oriented you are, you will make mistakes at times. Entrepreneurship is not for the fainthearted. There will be a time when you will need to pick yourself up off of the ground and keep pressing forward. It’s important that you learn from your errors and stay dedicated and passionate to whatever it is you’re doing, no matter how daunting the task at hand may seem.

In this sense, we can still learn a thing or two in Europe from the US, where failure is considered a common stage of growth on the path of individual development for an entrepreneur rather than a means of shame.

What can we be expecting from you and SponsorPay in 2012?

As previously mentioned, SponsorPay continues to grow at a feverish rate. As we continue to increase our revenues, we are excited to expand upon the mobile side of our business and increase our footprint within the advertising space with BrandEngage.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

On the face of it, there’s nothing spectacular about Shoreditch Grind. They’re a coffee shop, located next to Starbucks on the Old Street roundabout. That said, although there are hundreds of coffee shops all around London, there’s something about this one that makes it that little bit different. Founded by Kaz James and David Abrahamovitch, the former a successful musician, DJ and producer, the latter a UCL Economics graduate and would be investment banker.

With this combination of perspectives, it’s easy to see why Shoreditch Grind is so different from all those other countless coffee chains’, indistinguishable in name or the quality of the service they provide. However, how it set itself apart and achieved success is not so easy to spot, and to do this we need to take a look in more detail at those who founded it.

Kaz and David have been best friends for 10 years and both love coffee. David finished Economics at UCL, and after doing internships at various investment banks and seemed destined to follow the path set out by friends and family. However, he quickly realised that it wasn’t for him; “It was the natural progression, but I never liked being a small cog in a big wheel”. By contrast, Kaz James’ life took a very different road. Raised in Melbourne, Christopher (yes, that’s his real name) studied at various private schools, and was always involved in music. Thus, having captured his imagination at an early age, he decided to skip university in favour of a music career. Whilst on the face of it, they appear very different yet they are similar in all the important aspects; they both excel at what they do, neither of them wanted to remain locked in, and neither are afraid to take risks.

However, anyone in the business world knows it takes more than passion and ability to make something a success. David Abrahamovitch recalls how they reached their idea; “ (Kaz) is Australian and Aussie’s are massively into their coffee, and they were all amazed how difficult it is to get a good cup of coffee over here- that told me there’s a gap in the market”. It was from here that they decided to set up a Coffee shop at the roundabout on Old Street, next to a Starbucks. Whilst it seems like a bad idea to set up next to an established coffee chain and your main competitors, David doesn’t consider these big players as their competition. In fact, he takes a different view on it; “If anything, our competition is other independent cafés, but really they’re more like friends to us – we’re a community.” With this in mind, it made sense to choose the place they did; “If Starbucks opened a site there, that means there’s demand”. Would you forego a career in Investment Banking to open coffee shop from scratch next to one of the most dominant forces in the market? It’s easy to look back at the success of these two and say yes, but looking forward, it doesn’t take a genius to realise which most people would choose. Then again, David and Kaz aren’t like most people.

Opening in June 2011, the first feature of the business that appeals is the thought and care that goes into the making of the coffee; “we add our own blend of beans roasted to our exact specifications, and even more importantly some of the best (mostly Aussie) baristas in London”. Sure enough, their reputation and popularity grew from there, having been interviewed for the gateway (which is handed out at my University, as well as 15 others) and various other magazines. However, this is not the only way in which Shoreditch Grind separates itself; Kaz James; “ We wanted to create something that could bring music and coffee together”, which explains the presence of a recording studio on the floor above; “We’ve had Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones and Coldplay”. Top quality Coffee, and top quality music to go with it. It’s no wonder this business has been making a name for itself.

However, it hasn’t all been fun and games. It took 18 months to get the business up and running due to the difficulty in finding decent builders and electricians (a problem we’re all too familiar with), on their budget. On overcoming this, the work doesn’t stop; (David) “A business like this will not work unless you are very hands on… However much work you think it’s going to be, triple it”. However, despite this continuous work, and the difficulties along the way, Shoreditch Grind have created something so unique that, after a while you forget it’s a coffee shop. So next time you’re in Shoreditch make sure you visit the Shoreditch Grind.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Your mail has arrived. You open it up and you start eating it. That’s not a sentence you’d expect someone to tell you, but if you asked somebody what they did with their Graze box, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.

If you’re stuck in the office, hungry, and short for time, people would be willing to try almost anything other than the usual McDonalds or KFC, perhaps in some extremes even their own mail.

It’s very simple; Graze is a service that delivers a small package of healthy food anywhere in the UK for £3.79. In fact it’s so simple I’m sure many of us have thought of the idea in some way or another. Yet when it passed through Graham Bosher’s mind, he saw more, he sensed a business opportunity. People want healthy food, but need quick food; the problem is that quick food generally isn’t healthy, Solution; offer quick food that is healthy and reasonably priced. In fact it’s so simple it makes you wonder why no one else has done it? The truth is; the simpler the idea, the more difficult the challenges, which makes the need for the solutions to be that much more innovative and ingenious.

Graze was founded in January 2009 by 7 friends. It’s small, neatly packaged from recycled material (environment consciousness is always a plus) and is well presented. They deliver at work and home, and are never late. They invested a quarter of a million in research and development; to find a way of ensuring that the food doesn’t go bad during delivery. For this entire service they charge £3.79. The Grazebox is small enough to fit through the letterbox; so you don’t have to trudge to the post office if you’re not in on the delivery day.

However, a professional product and service isn’t enough, people have to want it. How did Graze do this? Looking at the idea it seems easy to answer; they marketed what people wanted (healthy food) and provided a professional service. In truth, however, it’s much harder.

People have known about healthy food for a long time, they just never wanted to eat it. When people think healthy food, they think “spinach” or “broccoli”, which is not exactly synonymous with good taste. All the investment would be in vain if people don’t want the product.

Redefining the image of healthy food is one of the two key parts to Graze’s success; the other is the innovative ways they then convinced you to buy it. The innovation comes from the use of technology. Their interactive site lists the various food types that they do (up to a 100 different foods to choose from), next to which you have 5 options; Bin, Like, Try or Love. This is a flexible, user friendly approach because rather than having simply “like” or “dislike” it caters to the various moods people are in. They might not particularly dislike something, but not like it enough to order it regularly; thus they can click “like” which simply means that Graze vary the times they put that particular option in.

With this system they can tailor themselves to not just the specific food they like, but also what food the customer is in the mood for. This flexibility carries on into their service; you can have boxes delivered as often or as little as possible; and cancel the delivery anytime before 6am (although they are seeking to extend this) on the delivery day. In this way, healthy food isn’t something that is forced upon you as a child, but rather something that can be enjoyable; almost an indulgence.

The use of technology extends to that of social media in network marketing. They offer deals through Groupon and various other sites where you can get your first box half price. Through this they entice customers, but at the same time they don’t devalue their brand. Lets face it, if they put up these deals on their site you’d ask; why are they giving it away? Is it that bad? Better yet, they offer customers free boxes if they recommend their product to their friends, and provide a unique code to reference this. These people then market the product through Youtube and various other social media sites, continuously enhancing their exposure. The scary thing is, the chain of network marketing that is created is potentially endless. What’s more, using people to advertise through video media rather than just blogs makes people more likely to trust the reviews as genuine. If they see a person with a Graze box, eating it, people are more likely to give it a go.

It’s difficult to gauge exactly how successful graze is, as they don’t disclose their profits. However, in it’s first half year, Graze shot up to 80,000 orders, and today sends out over 120,000 boxes a month. It is estimated that in the first year they raked in £1.4 million in revenue. Also, if we multiply £120,000 by the price they sell them for (currently at £3.79), and take into account how it uses the internet to generate completely free marketing, reducing costs..well, it doesn’t take a maths genius to work out it’s a lot. Graze’s expansion has not stopped there; they launched their first TV ad back in December 2011; which increased site traffic over 10 times as soon as it was aired.

In fact, the entirety of this article can be summed up with the following words; Graze has hit a winner. Not necessarily with their idea; it’s brilliant in it’s simplicity although not the most original. The real originality comes through the use the internet. On the customer end; tailoring the final product to the customer’s needs, in the process redefining how people look at healthy food. On the marketing end; advertising their product continuously through social media, which costs them almost nothing. The business model, combined with the focus on healthy food and an all round positive image is what, at least in my eyes, make Graze a success.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Alice is the co-founder of LUX FIX, an online platform that does two jobs – (1) It’s new way of engaging with fashion enthusiasts, offering members super-curated luxury deals. (2) It helps designers showcase their products towards a targeted customer base .

Alice quit her job in the city last year having spent most of her time speaking to entrepreneurs as an investor. I recently caught up with her as she sheds more light on her recent journey into the startup world.

Hi Alice, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

Thanks it’s great to be speaking to you guys!

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself? What were you doing before you founded LUX FIX?

Straight after leaving Oxford, where I read History, I worked as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs working on UK Mergers & Acquisitions, followed by three years in private equity at Quilvest Private Equity, where I was involved in the execution and monitoring of direct and fund investments in the UK and Europe. Then I left finance behind to found LUX FIX!

So Alice tell me how you got into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

Sitting the other side of the table as an investor at a Private Equity firm, I was always struck by the passion and energy of the entrepreneurs I met and was very keen to join them when I found the right opportunity.

Who was your inspiration growing and why?

My grandmother! She has worked all her life and is at the top of her field (she is a jewellery historian) even today.

So tell me about LUX FIX and how the idea came about?

We felt there was a need for a service offering time-poor professionals cherry-picked luxury, countering the “inventory overload” of the web and rewarding them with special offers each week.

What is LUX FIX and how does it work?

For our members, we are solving the issue of online inventory-overload and making buying luxury online fun and experience led (all our offers are one-off), for our designers we are a marketing platform which drives targeted consumers directly to their own online presences.

What is your business model?

LUX FIX works hand in hand with designers to offer super-curated luxury with members-only deals – like discounts, limited-editions and previews. We introduce brands and their current season to members via our newsletter/blog, engage members through the fun & interactive LUX FIX platform, and convert sales both on lux-fix.com and through referrals to designers’ own websites.

LUX FIX currently generates revenues directly on lux-fix.com and via affiliate sales.

What makes LUX FIX different from any service out there?

We are the only site in the UK where top luxury brands give regular offers on current season merchandise; this is possible because we provide marketing and sales generation for our designer partners’ brands and websites. Our customer is interested in current collections and the provenance behind them, she also appreciates deals and one-off offers to draw her attention.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Building a portfolio of luxury designers from scratch pre-launch was a big challenge — designers are approached by online startups all the time and we had to show them why we were different, all before we actually had a website to demo.

We focused on explaining to designers how Lux Fix differs from other online multi-brand retailers — how we work directly with designers to raise awareness of their brands and grow their own e-commerce sales rather than competing for customers. Also, we showed no compunction in calling brands again, and again, and again, until they agreed to give us a meeting.

Who are your competitors?

Well…we think LUX FIX occupies a unique space in the UK, offering members deals on in-season luxury alongside fresh editorial!

How have you been able to fund the business?

We raised a small initial round from private investors.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

In the next year we are looking to grow a fantastic team, particularly on the buying side so that we can grow our engaged database of luxury consumers to our next milestone and also to expand our offering cross-vertical and to serve new markets!

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

The best advice we have ever been given? Never take no for an answer and always negotiate! Other than that….Use your network — friends, family, former colleagues, random person you meet at a party, it’s amazing how many people you know will be able and happy to help. Also be prepared to be flexible and responsive — we’re constantly iterating and many of the features on the latest version of the site came from customer and designer feedback.